Patent Application
20140215098
The present disclosure relates to docking display adapters, and more particularly, to docking display adapters with automatic display mode switching.
Display adapters or docking stations allow multiple clients to alternately connect to a display. Each client, however, may have a different display mode requirement. For example, an enterprise notebook PC client may be primarily interested in productivity and thus have a desired display mode that provides the highest quality text rendering possible on that display. Alternatively, a desktop gaming PC client may have, as a desired configuration, a gaming mode where image post-processing in the display is turned off to decrease latency.
Generally, when the display adapter switches from one client to another, a user must manually change the display mode and settings by pushing a sequence of buttons or using an infra-red (IR) remote control to issue commands to the display. This can be a cumbersome process, particularly when the clients are remote and coupled to the display adapter through a wireless connection.
Features and advantages of embodiments of the claimed subject matter will become apparent as the following Detailed Description proceeds, and upon reference to the Drawings, wherein like numerals depict like parts, and in which:
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Generally, this disclosure provides an apparatus and method to automatically switch a display mode, and/or other settings associated with a display, in response to a change of clients connecting through a display adapter. In some embodiments the display adapter may be a wireless docking display adapter through which the clients may be remotely accessing the display. The wireless connection may be a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) connection, a 60 GHz connection or any other suitable wireless connection. In some embodiments the display adapter may be integrated with the display.
Client interface circuit 302 receives data from one of clients 106, 108, 110 that is currently connected to display adapter 102. This client data may comprise video data and control data. In some embodiments, the control data may include a client identification (ID). If a client ID is provided in the control data, the processor 304 may autonomously retrieve a desired display mode/setting associated with that client ID from memory 306. For example, the memory 306 may contain a list, or other suitable data structure, that pairs client IDs with a desired or default display mode/setting. The list or data structure maybe arranged to enable an efficient search so as to reduce the time required to find the display mode associated with the ID.
In some embodiments, the control data may include configuration setting messages comprising a requested display mode and/or other display settings, in which case the client is responsible for generating the messages. The messages may also comprise both a client ID and a display mode/setting, thus enabling the processor 304 to store the combination in memory 306 for future association.
Processor 304 may format the video data into a form suitable to the display 104. Display interface circuit 308 may transmit the desired display mode/settings along with the video data to display 104. In some embodiments, the display mode/settings may be transmitted in-band 310, for example on a channel, bus or video interface shared with the video data. Alternatively, the display mode/settings may be transmitted out-of-band 312, for example on a channel, bus or other interface that is separate from the video data.
In some embodiments, the client data may be received by client interface circuit 302 over a wireless connection. The wireless connection may be a Wi-Fi connection in accordance with any of the existing standards and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof. The wireless connection may be configured to operate in the millimeter wave (mm-wave) region of the RF spectrum and, in particular, the 60 GHz region associated, for example, with the use of wireless personal area network (WPAN) and wireless local area network (WLAN) communication systems.
In some embodiments, the client data may be received by client interface circuit 302 over a wired display interface connection. The wired connection may comprise a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a DisplayPort, a mechanical docking connection, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or a wired local area network (LAN) operating in accordance with any of the existing standards and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof.
An advantage of one more embodiments consistent with the present disclosure is that the display mode/settings for display 104 may be automatically updated as display adapter usage switches from one client to another, thus eliminating the need for manual adjustment of the settings through user interface commands on the display 104.
According to one aspect of the disclosure, there is thus provided an apparatus for a display adapter. The apparatus includes: a client interface circuit configured to receive client data from one or more clients; a processing circuit configured to determine a display mode based on the client data; and a display interface circuit configured to transmit the display mode to a display. The display interface circuit is further configured to embed the display mode within a video signal transmitted to the display and/or to transmit the display mode through a channel to the display which is separate from a video signal channel. The display adapter further includes a memory circuit and the processing circuit is further configured to associate a client identification with the display mode, where the client identification is included in the client data and the association is obtained from the memory circuit. The processing circuit is further configured to extract the display mode from a configuration settings message included in the client data. The client interface circuit may be further configured to receive the client data through a wireless receiver which may operate in accordance with a Wi-Fi standard and/or in a millimeter wave frequency range. The client interface circuit may also be configured to receive the client data through a wired interface such as a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a DisplayPort, a mechanical docking connection, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or a wired local area network (LAN). The display adapter may be integrated in the display.
According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method for interfacing a client to a display. The method includes: receiving client data from one or more clients; determining a display mode based on the client data; and transmitting the display mode to a display. The method further includes embedding the display mode within a video signal transmitted to the display and/or transmitting the display mode through a channel to the display which is separate from a video signal channel. The method further includes associating a client identification with the display mode, the client identification included in the client data. The method further includes extracting the display mode from a configuration settings message, the configuration setting message included in the client data. The method may further include receiving the client data wirelessly in accordance with a Wi-Fi standard and/or in a millimeter wave frequency range. The method may further include receiving the client data through a wired interface such as a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a DisplayPort, a mechanical docking connection, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or a wired local area network (LAN).
Embodiments of the methods described herein may be implemented in a system that includes one or more storage mediums having stored thereon, individually or in combination, instructions that when executed by one or more processors perform the methods. Here, the processor may include, for example, a system CPU (e.g., core processor) and/or programmable circuitry. Thus, it is intended that operations according to the methods described herein may be distributed across a plurality of physical devices, such as processing structures at several different physical locations. Also, it is intended that the method operations may be performed individually or in a subcombination, as would be understood by one skilled in the art. Thus, not all of the operations of each of the flow charts need to be performed, and the present disclosure expressly intends that all subcombinations of such operations are enabled as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.
The storage medium may include any type of tangible medium, for example, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), compact disk rewritables (CD-RWs), digital versatile disks (DVDs) and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor devices such as read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs) such as dynamic and static RAMs, erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), flash memories, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.
“Circuitry”, as used in any embodiment herein, may comprise, for example, singly or in any combination, hardwired circuitry, programmable circuitry, state machine circuitry, and/or firmware that stores instructions executed by programmable circuitry.
The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described (or portions thereof), and it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. Accordingly, the claims are intended to cover all such equivalents. Various features, aspects, and embodiments have been described herein. The features, aspects, and embodiments are susceptible to combination with one another as well as to variation and modification, as will be understood by those having skill in the art. The present disclosure should, therefore, be considered to encompass such combinations, variations, and modifications.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2012/024875 | 2/13/2012 | WO | 00 | 9/13/2013 |
